The end is finally here: Google Reader gets shut off, for good, on Monday, July 1st. Well before then, you should be celebrating your independence from Google’s feed reader, with an app that works just as good — or perhaps even better for your needs — than Google Reader ever did.

In the months since Google first announced they were going to shut down Google Reader, a ton of new RSS reader apps have been released, and many older, less known ones have become popular all over again. It’s actually a great time if you’re a fan of RSS readers, and chances are you’ll find yourself happier with one of the alternates today than you were with Google Reader.

But you’ve got to move now, before Google turns Reader’s power off. Here’s the apps you need for this weekend project — one that should take a whole of 5 minutes if you don’t get distracted reading through your feeds. (more…)

I just recently ventured into creating my own website again. There is something about doing it that is so fulfilling for me. Over the years, I have learned a lot about websites by creating them, and have found what should and should not go into it. Now, don’t let me mislead you: I am no pro at this by any stretch of the imagination. In fact, when you start talking about coding, you lose me right away. But, what I have started to learn more and more about is using the amazing resources that are out there to help you create your own site. I am finding that you really don’t have to know how to code to help you come up with a decently good looking website.

Take for example, the app that I am reviewing today called Feeder Ninja, which does something so simple in nature, but yet can come in very handy when you are creating your own site. Feeder Ninja takes your social media feeds and creates an embedable window that you can insert into your website. Again, simple in nature, but they make it so easy to do and it looks very professional.

Yes, this is another post on another type of Google Reader replacement, but this one takes a little different strategy than some of the others that are out there. As you know, we at Web.AppStorm have been scouring the internet for replacements for our Reader fix. A little while back, I did a review on Taptu, which I actually do like and think it can be a solid replacement. But, as always the tech nerd in me is always searching for something better, something that can really meet all my needs for a replacement.

Unfortunately, I don’t think I will honestly find something on the web that will satisfy me unless it syncs with my iOS devices. But, the one that I am about to review today definitely got my attention, enough so that I actually decided to pay for the app. Yes, we have been spoiled with a free service like Google Reader, but in my opinion that is what led to its demise; Google just didn’t want to bother with a product that wasn’t going to make money. But I digress, time to switch gears and talk about Feedbin, a possible RSS reader replacement that you might actually want to pay for as well. Let’s take a look.

About two weeks ago, Google dropped the bomb on many of us who use Google Reader by declaring that they are going to shut it down this summer. Many of you have been looking at different alternatives to see what will work for you. I have been doing the same as well and although I am not convinced there is something that will replace it just yet, I was able to test out a web app that I thought had some similar qualities to Google Reader and could be a decent replacement.

Taptu has gone under the radar for a lot of people, but it’s an RSS app that’s actually been around since 2010. I played around with the app back then, but stopped because I knew that it couldn’t come close to what I was doing with Google Reader and not only that, I was used to what I was already using and it was working fine. Like the old saying goes, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” So that is what I had decided at the time, well now, Google Reader is not broke, but it definitely will get there. That is why I decided to revisit this app and give it another try.

The internet is a great resource for news and updates, and no matter what you’re looking to keep track of, you’re sure to be able to find countless sites that will be able to keep you up to date with the latest information. To help make it easier to keep track of new developments, you might make use of an RSS feed to save you having to look things up manually. You might already be used to using RSS in apps like Google Reader, but there’s so much more you can do with RSS feeds.

Pipes is a tool from Yahoo that enables you to take things a step further so you can, amongst other things, create your own custom RSS feeds that pull in content from a variety of sources and filter it so that you only see the most relevant news stories. It’s a venerable web app, starting off life in a rather Google-ish way of being in a lengthy period of beta but then living on for years, long enough that many of us have likely forgotten about it. But it’s still a great tool, even in 2012, so let’s dig in and see what you can do with it.

There is little innovation happening in the online news reader space. I am so jealous at the awesome apps like Google Currents, Flipboard, Pulse, and more that push the envelop for reading on a tablet. After mercilessly slaughtering the usability of the Google Reader web app, Google came up with the elegant Currents. Unbelievable.

These days lot of my reading time is spent on my iPad and with the choices out there on the web, I don’t see things changing anytime soon. That doesn’t stop me from scouting for new web apps that help consume news better. Like Readings. I took some time off to put the app to test and you can find out if is a promising contender after the break.